Minneapolis is quickly becoming one of my favorite places. Rob living there has a lot to do with it, sure, but the place is just cool. As I sat in the airport waiting for the last leg of my travels, I had a thought that I've never had before:

I'm so glad he took this job, because otherwise we would have missed out.

Remember that bright side I was talking about a couple of weeks ago? I've jumped on it with both feet.

I whipped out my camera on our walk to brunch at Edina Grill on Saturday to find that my battery had died and I hadn't packed the charger. After a Bloody Mary (mine) and a mimosa (his) paired with a delicious meal of English muffin-less Eggs Benedict (mine) and a ham and cheese egg scramble (his), we headed to the Mall of America, where I got a new charger, but I still didn't take enough photos after I got my camera fired up.

Here are the highlights:

+ Best dinner ever happened at Chino Latino. 

(Get a Cucumber Cooler and please don't leave without having the spare ribs.)

+ Had an okay latte (Rob got a mocha) at Peace Coffee, but the shop itself and neighborhood are quaint and cozy and I'd go back again.

+ Walked by Moon Palace Books after coffee but didn't go in because of a sign that said "Puppet Show in Progress." This is Minneapolis, and it's awesome and hilarious at every turn.
+Took lots of naps, watched lots of our shows, slept in on Sunday.

(Some shots from my phone: 1 2 3 4)

How was your weekend?

It's weird to see Rob only once every three weeks. 

Granted, this month we'll see each other two more times, but that doesn't make these weekends any less precious.

  

[2010]

From that first Halloween party where we met to the years we spent together in college; through that first stint of "distance" after I graduated and you were a senior at Hampden-Sydney; then the warehouse apartment we shared in downtown Roanoke with the brick walls and the lacquered cement floors; to Charlottesville, and the apartment with the green carpet and tiny little kitchen and noisy upstairs neighbors.

And then you went to China and I moved back to the lake, where you returned after your trip. That summer together before we started our careers; and then to Northern Virginia. And now Minnesota has become part of the story, with plans for flights and twice-a-month visits tucked in between lonely weekends apart. I have fallen in love with you even more, and in different ways through each new season of the past four years.

We have come so far together, and there is no one I'd rather be sharing my life with today.

Happy Anniversary, Rob. You mean the world to me.